Okay... Month Two...
What we used: Starter DVD, Starter Sliding Word Cards, Starter Book, Volume 1 DVD, Volume 1 Book, Volume 1 Sliding Word Cards, Double Sided Word Cards (Starter and Volume 1.)
What we did: We Introduced the Volume 1 DVD and tried to watch it twice a day. On busy days where we weren't at home much (like therapy days) we would watch it only once or skip that day. We watched the Starter DVD a couple of times a week (usually 2-3 times.) We played with the word cards daily (sometimes adult assisted, others times the girls played together.) Read the Starter and Volume 1 book daily (usually more than once... the girls LOVE the books!) We played games (matching, finding a word in a group of different words) with the Volume 1 words cards (2-4 times a week.)
Results:
In addition to the words on the video, my Chunky Monkey (5 years old in Feb. with Down Syndrome) can read: yes, no, hi, keys, happy, and orange. She can recognize the letters in each word separately and is not just memorizing the shape of the word as a whole. This is especially evident when she guesses the wrong word and then I make her read the letters. After looking at each letter she reads the word correctly. She can hear any word and pick out the beginning sounds and letters.
My Little Miss (2 1/2 years old with Down Syndrome) can read: tiger, cat, wave, eyes, ears, nose (80% of the time), mouth (80% of the time). Her vocabulary is increasing dramatically and she continues to LOVE the program.
My Thoughts: I am really pleased with the program so far! My girls absolutely love it! I love that at the end of the Volume 1 DVD there are games that teach word families, ing-words, and beginning phonics.
I am so excited about how great this program is!! Don't just take my word for it... here is a comment left from one of our readers from my last post.
"Okay, Okay, I WAS THE DECEMBER WINNER!! I want to tell you that my 4 year old identical twin boys both with PDD Autism and Down Syndrome AND they are both non-verbal are really getting it. They sign each word as it comes up on the screen. We have the starter DVD and they already knew all the words to sign except for tiger, gorilla and elephant but they know them now :) I am going to give it about another week or two and then I will video tape them and blog about it. I am sold!!! I think I am going to buy the rest of the program for them very soon!! Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! ~Stacy"
** Remember at the end of my 6 month review you will have the opportunity to win the Deluxe Version and previous comments (starting with the Month One post) will add to your entries.
After watching Sid The Science Kid one afternoon. We had to try out the fun water boats they made. Click here for instructions. Little Man loved to hear all about wind and then he got to be the wind and move the boat around. Super easy and cost you nothing!!
Lets make a indoor sandbox. However ours would have no sand and all sugar. With rice thrown into the mix at some point during the fun.
Little Man enjoyed feeling the different textures and we were doing all kinds of scooping and pouring into containers. It was a good time to go over how our hands are for touching and feeling different things.
Just know it WILL get messy. There is no doubt about it. I forgot to pull out my spare shower curtain I use for projects like this, so you might want to try and remember. Please don't let the mess scare you because we had a lot of fun doing this until the baby woke from his nap.
I had a empty paper towel holder and it reminded me when I was a child and got to draw on it and make it into something amazing. I thought I would do the same with LM. We colored it and put stickers all over it. 
His favorite part was filling it with dry beans. He concentrated so hard on this part. He even loved finding all the beans he dropped on the floor when it was time to clean. 
Now he gets to rock out with it anytime he wants. Maybe you should think of a craft you loved as a child and give it a whirl with your child, I bet it will turn out that you loved it for the same reason your child will.
Crayola. I love you. Crayola has such great products. I wanted LM to be able to paint and I found these no mess, no drip water colors. He loves them.
We get to talk about colors and shapes when we pull this baby out of her hiding place. I love how hard LM concentrates to make sure he gets the tip of the brush inside the hole for the paint. It's great for fine motor skills.
Once a week LM and I go to a mommy and me class called Kindermusik. He just loves this class and I have already seen him grow from attending it. 
We listen to music and play instruments and learn about all kinds of things. The instruments are his favorite thing to do. He follows directions for the teacher and shares with all the other children. 
The fun always ends with a fun stamp on both hands. And if you are feeling wild like some of the other kids you will get the stamp on your belly. 
To find out about Kindermusik click here to see their website.
